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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Boston and JFK Library

I feel like a broken record, but – it just doesn’t get any better than this!

Our home is parked in Winter Island City park in Salem, and the ferry dock is, at most, a mile away. We took the ferry to Boston – about an hour ride. ahh, smell that salt air! And the cool breeze was welcome on this hot summer day. Here’s the route we took from Salem to Boston.

The weather was setting record highs (95 degrees I heard) – so it was an especially good way to travel today – nice and cool.

What a great way to come in to Boston!

After the boat ride, we took the subway, then a shuttle bus to get to the JFK Library. I felt like a real country bumpkin in the big city trying to figure it all out! We didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes for either subway or bus … really quite nice.

This was our 10th Presidential Library in our travels (you can click on the category “Presidential libraries” in the right sidebar to see all of them) and, I think it was the most inspiring yet.

The architect is the same – I.M. Pei – as for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Louvre. You can see it in the ‘Pavilion’ with the stories-high glass:

Kennedy was elected on my 8th birthday and, especially with his assassination 3 years later, is the first president in my memory. I remember learning to get under our desks during bomb alerts in my Alaska elementary school. So, watching the video about the Cuban Missile crisis was especially poignant.

He was our first real TV president, and there were lots of clips to watch. We spent a little over 3 hours there and, as I say at every Presidential library, I could have stayed much longer. Both Jim and I just love history. Reviewing American history gives you perspective on current affairs.

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Here’s the map of Nixon (red) and Kennedy (blue) votes from the 1960 election.

After the museum, we reversed our course and took the bus and the subway again, but we also walked several blocks of the ‘Freedom Trail’ in the heart of Boston.

When we got back to the docks, our chariot was waiting to ferry us back to Salem. Glorious day!

Inspiration

"There’s a myth that time is money. In fact, time is more precious than money. It’s a nonrenewable resource. Once you’ve spent it, and if you’ve spent it badly, it’s gone forever."— Neil Fiore: Author, speaker, and trainer on managing business